SCJ Antonin Scalia’s 55-year Marriage had roots on Cape Cod

SOUTH YARMOUTH, Mass. — The image of Lady Justice has her blindfolded, an obvious reference to the “justice is blind,” theory that the law is equal to all. “Justice is blind,” may have had another meaning in the life of recently-deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Some biographies of the 79-year-old judge indicate he met his future wife, Maureen McCarthy, on a blind date while he was attending Harvard Law School.

“Ms. McCarthy’s family had a residence in the Yarmouth area,” Father Chris Peschel, a parochial vicar at St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth, told The Anchor. “Justice Scalia and Ms. McCarthy were married at St. Pius X Church in 1960 at what is now the parish center.”

“The Scalias were married by a family friend, Jesuit Father Gerard Yates, whom the justice knew from his undergraduate days attending Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.”

Father Peschel said that he learned of the wedding in South Yarmouth a few years back when someone called, looking for a picture of the old church for an anniversary tribute for the Scalias.

Father Peschel dug up the old parish Marriage Register and found the couple’s names there.

Justice Scalia and Maureen went on to have nine children, four daughters and five sons, and more than 25 grandchildren.